Description: Make a prediction. How are feelings of anxiety and depression related to caring for a terminally ill person or loved one? What proportion of people engaged in such care do you think show such symptoms? Once you have your hypotheses in mind have a read through the article linked below and see how your predictions fare.

Source: Caregivers should be screened early, often to prevent depression, anxiety, ScienceDaily.

Perhaps the results reported are not surprising. However, it is worth thinking about (and researching) the questions of why the rates of depression and anxiety in this population are where they are at and why caregivers are not routinely included as part of the medical or therapeutic oversight afforded to the terminally ill persons they are caring for.

Questions for Discussion:

What are the rates of depression and anxiety among those caring for people with terminal illnesses and how do these compare to rates in the general population?

How do those rates vary in relation to age of the caregiver? The research is American, would you expect different results in Canada?